Rio Ferdinand identifies Man City 'jewel' in Premier League title warning to rivals

Rio Ferdinand believes Kevin De Bruyne's inspired performance versus Newcastle United could be the start of another Premier League winning run for Manchester City.

Pep Guardiola's side fought back from 2-1 down against Newcastle on Saturday evening, a comeback largely inspired by De Bruyne. The 32-year-old scored and later set up Oscar Bobb's winner on what was his first league appearance since the opening day.

De Bruyne has been a major miss for City since suffering his long-term hamstring injury, though a return to first-team action has provided a major boost to Pep Guardiola and the rest of the squad as City look to chase down league leaders Liverpool.

Sensing the Sky Blues could be about to string together another special sequence of victories due to their Belgian playmaker not longer being sidelined, Ferdinand told TNT Sports after yesterday's match at St James' Park: "Pep Guardiola, very rarely do you see him as animated as he was today. I’ll tell you one thing, that man there (KDB), you’re back, you are back. You are the jewel in the crown, you’re back. Look at us now, watch momentum kick in now and these guys know what to do.

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"These guys know when to put the pedal to the floor and it looks like now everybody is going to be looking over their shoulders and looking around and saying 'they are coming'. They know how to get the job done, they have the experience, the depth, the class, the quality and the firepower. Formidable."

Ferdinand backed City for the title back in October, at which point the conversation was around whether Arsenal and